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DURING HIS RECENT visit to Yangon, the External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said that "There are times when small events mark great beginnings". The event was the ''expression of the collective political resolve'' of the Foreign Ministers of Thailand, Myanmar and India "to create a transport corridor linking the three nations and develop other common infrastructure projects". According to them, the 1,400-km corridor linking the three countries may be completed in 18-24 months. This may raise eyebrows, but the deadline may well be kept as parts of the road already exist in a rudimentary form (and needs to be upgraded), fresh construction being limited to the "missing links".

MrJaswant Singh's reference to "great beginnings" obviously refers to the potential such a project holds not merely for Myanmar and Thailand but also for India, specifically the North-East — India's the gateway to the rich markets of South-East Asia. India and Myanmar share a highly porous1,600-km border, on which lie four of the seven North-East States (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram). But the economic potential can be exploited only if infrastructural support is in place — precisely what the "transport corridor project" is expected to provide. Last February, a 160-km road from Moreh in Manipur to central Myanmar was made operational; it is to be extended to Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar. The Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo road (or the India-Myanmar Friendship Road), it was said, would enable people to travel freely, and that goods movement, "which used to take days", would "go through in a matter of hours". It is not known if a year later the hopes generated by the road — described as a "Rs 90-crore gift" built as it was by the Border Roads Organisation and funded entirely by the External Affairs Ministry — have been fulfilled, but no doubt that it is a step in the right direction. So also the project involving Thailand (which, basically, brings in the larger aspect of New Delhi's growing closeness to ASEAN). In fact, more than the link with Bangkok it is the impact on economic ties with Myanmar that will be the crucial evaluating factor for the road project.

Thereis a strong complementarity between the Myanmar economy and that of the north-eastern region, and it is expected that infrastructural projects will exploit the untapped potential of the two economic partners. It is creditable that Mr Jaswant Singh has been able to get the exchange going though much remains to be done if India and Myanmar are to really benefit from the two-way process. Happily there has been some move forward — not only the building of roads but also the possibility of exporting Myanmar gas and oil to India. Mr Jaswant Singh also spoke of India's plans to build a 1,200 MW hydroelectric project at Tamanthi on the Chindwin river, a similar project at Yeywa, developing a multi-modal link on the Kaldan river, and establishing a trade link between the port of Sittwe (or Akyab) and Mizoram. According to reports, the two power projects are to supply electricity to the North-East. The focus now should be on quick implementation, not the least because the Yangon regime is inordinately favourably disposed towards New Delhi.

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